Tips for Promoting Your Photography Business Online

Be a Successful Freelance Photographer

Why Freelance?

As with most creative fields, working as a freelance photographer can be a tough world to break into. It is worth the effort though. Working as a freelancer you are given the opportunity and freedom to set your own schedule, pick your own projects and set your own prices. These aren't things you can do working for someone else.

What it takes

To be successful you will need to be proficient with more than just your cameras. You will have to learn how to market yourself and place your name where people who need your skills can find you. Don't lose heart this is not an insurmountable obstacle. It can actually be overcome fairly easily, with a little bit of work and following the tips below

Build a Presence

One of the first things you will need to do is find yourself a home or several. By that I mean you will need to build a presence that makes you accessible and can draw people to you and your abilities. In today's world the easiest way of doing this is, of course, online.

Building your presence and presenting your work can be much easier than you realize. You can start with something as simple as building a page on any of the social media sites (FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.); several of these are preferable.

This offers you the opportunity to start networking with other photographers and the people who appreciate and need your work.

Join Social Groups (forums)

Join social groups where your particular genre is appreciated and be active. This in net terms is called building authority and equates to having a reputation in the real world.

Most people don't realize that everything on the web gets scanned by the search engines and the more your name and sites appear the better you rate.

Business home

At the same time you are doing this you will, of course, need to be looking for clients and contracts. There are literally thousands of sites online that have been developed catering to freelancers. Most of these are directed to a worldwide audience. For the photographer though, it is generally more advantages to look closer to home. That is where sites like SkillWho come into play. It is directed to local markets making it easy to carry your online reputation to the real world and vice versa.

When using these sites remember to be thorough:

Completely fill out your profile information, don't skip anything.

Make sure to link all your other pages and social media to your profile

Use video and your pictures to make you stand out and to display your abilities

Be sure to include a well suited profile picture. People connect with faces.

Join the sites internal social groups and forums. The best mistakes learn from are other peoples and older hands are usually more than happy to help you get started right.

Freelancing can be a tough world but it can also be a very rewarding way to work. No other form of business offers the freedom and control that a freelancer enjoys. With a few hours of work you can place yourself in a position to enjoy all the rewards that freelancing offers.

If you already have your own studio or operate independently, the added resources that are made available online can only help you grow and enhance your businesses standing. The small investment in time is more than worth the great potential returns that you can reap.